With the winter yacht charter season about to kick into high gear in the Bahamas and Caribbean, several top management companies have welcomed notable motoryachts into their fleets.

Perhaps the largest yacht in this category is Samsara, a 290-foot Oceanco that recently joined the Y.CO charter fleet. Brokers are now accepting inquiries for winter charters in the Bahamas and Caribbean (and for summer 2024 bookings in Greenland and Iceland) at a lowest weekly base rate of $1.1 million.

Samsara is a 2015 build that most recently was refitted in 2023, with accommodations for 12 guests in seven staterooms. This yacht has a private owners’ deck, swimming pool, gymnasium, massage room and hair salon, along with an elevator for guest use. “Her seven-cabin layout is ideal for multigenerational groups or two families traveling together,” says David Price of Y.CO Charter Management. “It offers the flexibility to suit many kinds of charter groups.”

Meanwhile, over at Edmiston, two notable yachts have joined the charter fleet.

First is Wayfinder, 223-foot powercat that Astilleros Armon built in 2021. This yacht has an unusual layout, with 11 en suite staterooms (nine singles and two with twin berths) for 12 guests, along with quarters for 20 crew. It can be booked as either its own charter yacht or as a support vessel for more traditional charter yachts.

Wayfinder has an open aft deck with a helipad that doubles as a pickleball court. This yacht also has belowdecks storage for six tenders and four Sea-Doos. The lowest base rate to book a week in the Caribbean is $300,000, with inquiries also being accepted for the Mediterranean and other destinations in summer 2024.

Also new to the Edmiston charter fleet is the 164-foot Home, a 2017 Heesen that will be in the Bahamas this winter at a lowest weekly base rate of $245,000.

Home accommodates 12 guests in six staterooms, and charters with nine crew. Interiors are by Cristiano Gatto—Edmiston describes them as “crisp, light-filled and Ibiza-inspired.” For outdoor fun, the complement of tenders and toys includes a 34-foot Jupiter towed tender, a 21-foot Williams jet tender that can reportedly hit 35 knots, Sea-Doos, standup paddleboards, skis, inflatables, snorkeling gear and scuba equipment.

And, last but not least, IYC has added the 162-foot Christensen Remember When to the charter fleet, with bookings available this winter in the Bahamas at a lowest weekly base rate of $230,000. It’s a 2011 build that was most recently refitted in 2020, with accommodations for 12 guests in six staterooms. An elevator services all four decks, and the full-beam main-deck master has a private office.

Is it too early to call for summer 2024 yacht charter bookings? Nope. In fact, IYC also just welcomed the 90-foot Sanlorenzo SAL to the charter fleet. It’s a brand-new build for 2023 that’s currently accepting bookings for the West Mediterranean, Croatia and Montenegro in summer 2024.

Take the next step: head over to y.co, edmiston.com or iyc.com

The post New Options for Winter Yacht Charter appeared first on Yachting.

But when it comes to the really big boats—the megayachts, superyachts and gigayachts—it’s the NFL team owners who have the goods. Sure, there’s an occasional story in the news about an NFL player spending a day on the water, but the people making a real splash on the docks are the ones who own the teams.

Article At-A-Glance

• NFL players, such as Tom Brady, have good-size boats, but team owners have big yachts.
• Several NFL team owners have sizable, pedigree European shipyard builds.
• You’d never know the owners based on the yacht names.
• The yachts cruise all over the world, including the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

European Shipyards that NFL Owners Choose

Europe has always been seen as the place to buy a pedigree superyacht, and owners of NFL teams naturally gravitate toward the best. They’ve commissioned yachts from Oceanco, Lürssen, Feadship and Royal Hakvoort.

Jerry Jones’ Bravo Eugenia

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones owns Bravo Eugenia, a 357-foot Oceanco that was delivered in late 2018. Forbes reported that, during the pandemic, Jones handled the NFL draft from on board—in a luxurious version of social-distancing. The yacht itself is noteworthy for its hybrid propulsion as well as its multiple helipads, which give Jones the ability to land on board pretty much anywhere in the world.

Shahid Khan’s Kismet

In 2014, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan took delivery of the 312-foot Lürssen Kismet. It’s currently listed for sale on the Moran Yacht & Ship website at an asking price of about $160 million, with what the brokerage house calls a “decadent interior” by Reymond Langton Design. Accommodations are for 16 guests, with quarters for 28 crew. The yacht has a helipad, a spa, a swimming pool and an outdoor fireplace—a rare find aboard any yacht of any size.

American Shipyards that NFL Owners Choose

Some NFL owners skip the European shipyards (and their years-long waiting lists) altogether and go with American builds instead. These yachts are new or refitted after being purchased from previous owners, showing that it’s possible to get exactly what you want in a yacht even if you don’t choose the process of custom construction.

Steve Bisciotti’s Winning Drive

Baltimore Ravens majority owner Steve Bisciotti reportedly also owns Winning Drive, a Westport 130 that left the yard in 2012. This is one of the most popular American-model yachts ever, with the series in build since way back in 2000 and the company still offering new versions today. The 10-guest, seven-crew Westport 130 is also a popular model on the charter market, if anyone wants to book a different hull to get a feel for life on board Bisciotti style.

Stan Kroenke’s Aquila

This billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Rams (and numerous other sports teams) reportedly also owns Aquila, a 280-foot Derecktor that started life on the water in 2010 as Cakewalk—the largest private motoryacht ever built in the United States. The yacht underwent a yearlong refit at Pendennis and is currently available for charter through Burgess at a lowest weekly base rate of $945,000. Guests have full access to the onboard elevator, cinema room, spa and massage areas, and bridge-deck fire pit.

Tom Brady’s Boat

By comparison with these behemoths, Brady’s Wajer 77 seems small—but it’s actually the largest model in the builder’s line. It’s built for speed and silence, with a top speed of 37 knots and extensive use of insulation to dampen onboard noise. Smaller models from Wajer give all kinds of boat owners a chance to sample the kind of fun that Brady is having out on the water.

Wajer 38

The Wajer 38 is the entry-level model in the builder’s lineup, with 45 knots of speed (yes, it can outrun Tom Brady’s boat). The 300-nautical-mile range means this boat is well-suited for weekend getaways, and the fact that the boat is packed with seating and sun pads mean owners can bring plenty of friends along for the ride. Vripack in the Netherlands—also a superyacht designer—handled naval architecture, which explains the upscale feel.

Wajer 55S

This is the model that Tom Brady had before he upgraded to the builder’s larger flagship. The 55S is still in production today. It’s a 38-knot boat with a 400-nautical-mile range and a center-console design that allows great walkaround space for fishing and other water sports. Belowdecks, there’s accommodations for as many as four people, if owners want to spend the night on the hook. For the hull, owners can choose among a wide variety of colors, ranging from more subtle blacks and whites to high-octane yellows and pinks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do more NFL team owners than NFL players own superyachts?

Generally speaking, superyacht owners are billionaires, while even the most successful NFL players tend to be multimillionaires.

Do any NFL team owners have yachts bigger than a football field?

A football field between the goal lines is 100 yards, or 300 feet. That means several NFL team owners have yachts that would be too long to fit inside their own stadiums.

Do NFL team owners keep their yachts near NFL stadiums?

Not usually. Dallas Cowboys owners Jerry Jones’ yacht, for instance, has been spotted everywhere from Vancouver to London.

Do NFL team owners with yachts also have other business interests?

Yes. Shahid Khan, who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, made his fortune with Flex-N-Gate, which makes bumpers for vehicles. Steve Bisciotti, who owns the Baltimore Ravens, also owns staffing, recruiting and talent-management companies.

Do any NFL stadiums have dockage for yachts?

Not directly at the stadium, but there’s a marina adjacent to Soldier Field, where the Chicago Bears play, and boaters heading to Cleveland Browns games can tie up at the nearby Rock and Dock Marina at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The post The NFL’s Favorite Boats appeared first on Yachting.

Oceanco says hull Y722, a 364-foot superyacht, has left the yard’s first-phase construction facilities in Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, and moved to outfitting facilities in Alblasserdam.

Y722 is designed by Oceanco and Espen Øino International, with interiors from Mark Berryman Design. The project is a collaboration among Oceanco, YTMC and Y.CO. Oceanco says the vessel “embraces innovative technologies and has had some radical layout changes introduced that will challenge the perception of the traditional yacht.”

Accommodations are for 22 guests, with quarters for 33 crew. The owner has what Oceanco calls “scientific aspirations,” and the guest and crew quarters are somewhat combined, including the crew mess and dining room. The idea is to “create synergy between all those on board and encourage the mutual cultivation of ideas and passions.” The yacht will also have crew wellbeing areas, such as a gym.

Eco-friendly thinking has been part of the design process. Power will be diesel-electric for emissions-free, silent running. A waste heat recovery system and an advanced wastewater treatment system are also part of the build.

“Y722 will break new boundaries at Oceanco, with, amongst other things, her industry-leading noise and vibration characteristics, and the focus on usability and operability will bring a holistic comfortable experience for all aboard,” Dan Morgan, YTMC managing director, stated in a press release.

Charlie Birkett, CEO and co-founder of Y.CO, called Y722 a groundbreaking yacht: “This is a project with vast scope and vital ambition.”

When is Y722 expected to undergo sea trials and commissioning? In 2025.

Take the next step: go to oceancoyacht.com

The post Oceanco’s Y722 Begins Outfitting appeared first on Yachting.

Antarctica is a destination where many people dream of chartering but precious few yachts typically go. More and more, though, we’re starting to see substantial vessels pointing their bows toward the ice. The 413-foot Lürrsen Octopus chartered in Antarctica this past winter. Now comes word that the 300-foot Oceanco Tranquility is accepting Antarctica bookings for December 2023 through February 2024.

“We are all seeing a desire from clients to venture to these distant, untouched parts of the world,” says Camper & Nicholsons International charter manager Nicole Terry. “Guests want to explore and have these once-in-a-lifetime experiences in parts of the world that only a superyacht can take you to.”

Tranquility is precisely that type of yacht, built to Ice Class standards with transoceanic range for exploring far and wide. It has two touch-and-go helipads; a full scuba setup, including a dedicated dive boat; and an upper-deck basketball court for guests who miss shooting hoops in the gym. For relaxing after days spent exploring the outdoors, the onboard spa includes a Finnish sauna, a hammam, experiential showers, a plunge pool and a massage-and-treatment room.

Most important is that Tranquility Capt. Jan Rautawaara is no stranger to Antarctica’s waters, which can be challenging for newcomers. “Being able to visit remote, desolate places and to see some extraordinary wildlife is a true adventure,” he says, adding that charters on this remote part of the planet are a way to “broaden our own understanding of nature and make us realize how important it is to preserve this fragile life around us.”

Tranquility

Built in 2014, the Oceanco Tranquility has a lowest weekly  base rate of $1.1 million for charters. The yacht is built to  ice class standards, so it can go just about anywhere. It’s also compliant with passenger yacht code, which means it can charter with more than the usual 12-guest limit aboard most yachts. Camper & Nicholsons International is the yacht’s management company.

The post Charter the Transoceanic Oceanco ‘Tranquility’ appeared first on Yachting.

Oceanco in the Netherlands has unveiled the 430-foot concept design Aeolus, with exteriors by Giles Taylor and interiors from Njord by Bergman Design House.

The Aeolus concept is rooted in sustainability, in keeping with Oceanco’s NXT initiative to focus on innovation and sustainability. The concept yacht is named for the Greek god of wind and takes some design cues from J Class sailing yachts.

“Her curves do not make her overly feminine because there is a masculine quality to her bold, forthright architecture,” Taylor stated in a press release. “Apart from the deck surfaces themselves, not one surface is flat or brutally geometric, which provides a unique aesthetic that sets Aeolus apart.”

The interior is envisioned in a way that will include sustainable and traceable materials, including biomaterials. Two examples are Desserto, a vegan leather alternative made from climate-positive cactus plants, and Oliveri Homes, which uses nontoxic processes and dyes to create materials.

Oceanco also worked with technical partners ABB and MTU to create an adaptable energy transition platform, thinking ahead toward a net-zero-emissions future amid constantly evolving technology.

What are some key specs of the Aeolus concept yacht? Beam is 59 feet, and gross tonnage is 6,200.

Where to learn more: visit oceancoyacht.com

The post Oceanco Unveils 430-Foot Concept Aeolus appeared first on Yachting.

Traveling to somewhere new is an exciting adventure. Most will travel by car or by airplane. What about venturing somewhere new by superyacht? The experience of chartering a superyacht combines luxury and service with privacy and escape. These on-the-water mega-homes can take you to places like Antarctica, the Mediterranean, the Bahamas and more. Here are seven superyachts for your next great escape.

Palmer Johnson ‘Pioneer’ in the Caribbean

For long-distance cruising, the 151-foot Palmer Johnson Pioneer is up to the task. Built in 1996, Pioneer is an expedition yacht with an 8,000-nautical-mile range at 10 knots. It has traveled to North and South America, including Alaska. In 2015, Pioneer underwent a refit that included new teak decks, new interiors and zero-speed stabilizers. Its hull and superstructure are aluminum.

The yacht accommodates up to 10 guests in five en suite staterooms. Amenities include a yoga-and-workout space and a gym belowdecks. Water toys are included: jet tenders, multiple personal watercraft, scuba gear and kayaks.

Christensen ‘Lady Elaine’ in Florida, the Bahamas

Previously known as Casino Royale, the 163-foot Christensen Lady Elaine has rebranded and is ready for new appointments. The 2008 build can host 12 guests in six en suite staterooms, and there is also space for nine crew. Features and toys include a 37-foot Intrepid, a 15-foot Nautica RIB, four personal watercraft, three Seabobs, two paddleboards, two kayaks, snorkeling gear, fishing equipment and tow toys.

Oceanco ‘Tranquility’ in Antarctica

With a 5,000-nautical-mile range, the Oceanco Tranquility is another expedition yacht worthy of a seafaring adventure. This superyacht is certified to Lloyd’s Ice Class E, with navigational equipment that includes “sonars for detecting uncharted rocks and ice growlers,” according to charter-fleet host Camper & Nicholsons International. Guests will find a fitness center, “experiential showers,” a massage-and-treatment room, a hair-and-beauty salon, a hammam steam room and a Finnish sauna aboard Tranquility.

At 300 feet length overall, Tranquility can host more than other chartered superyachts: 18 in nine staterooms or up to 22 with two convertible cabins. Two VIP staterooms are on the main deck and have private balconies.

Tranquility can be booked in Antarctica from December 2023 to February 2024 via Camper & Nicholsons International.

Amels ‘Grace’ in the Bahamas

The 2009-built Amels Grace most recently underwent a refit in 2021. It accommodates 12 guests in six staterooms, including a main-deck master and double-berth guest stateroom, and charters with 14 crew. The 170-footer has amenities like a sundeck hot tub and barbecue, zero-speed stabilizers and a variety of water toys.

Cantiere Delle Marche ‘Nuri’ in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean

The Cantiere Delle Marche Nuri is a new addition to the Y.CO charter fleet, and it’s ready for bookings in the Caribbean this winter and the Mediterranean this summer. At 133 feet length overall, the 2021 build can host 10 to 12 guests in five staterooms, and it charters with seven crew. Amenities include a main-deck alfresco dining area, sunbathing space and oversized windows for wide-open views.

Amels ‘Amigos’ in the Caribbean, the Bahamas

The Amels Amigos is a 2017 build that accommodates 12 guests in six staterooms, with 13 crew aboard. It includes a full-beam master with a private terrace and a main-deck VIP stateroom that has a fold-down balcony. Amenities include a 13-foot-long counter-current pool, shaded alfresco dining, an outdoor cinema and a beach club with a steam room.

Heesen ‘Knight’ in Costa Rica

Returning from private use by its owner, the Heesen Yachts Knight is ready for charter bookings in Costa Rica. The 2011 build has dining space on all three levels of this tri-deck superyacht. Further amenities include a 42-foot Hydra-Sports custom tender for anglers. Accommodations can host 10 guests in five staterooms, including a main-deck master with a private office and a king-sized berth; belowdecks, there are two queen-berth VIPs and two twin-berth guest staterooms.

The post 7 Yacht Charters to Expand Your Horizons appeared first on Yachting.

Camper & Nicholsons International says the 300-foot Oceanco Tranquility is heading to Antarctica. Charter bookings will be available there from December 2023 to February 2024.

Tranquility is a 2014 build with a cruising range of 5,000 nautical miles. The yacht is certified to Lloyd’s Ice Class E and has navigational equipment that includes what Camper & Nicholsons calls “sonars for detecting uncharted rocks and ice growlers.”

“We are all seeing a desire from clients to venture to these distant ‘untouched’ parts of the world. Charter has evolved,” charter manager Nicole Terry stated in a press release. “Guests want to explore and have these once-in-a-lifetime experiences in parts of the world that only a superyacht can take you, and of course Tranquility is more than happy to oblige.”

Guest amenities aboard Tranquility include a fitness center, “experiential showers,” a massage and treatment room, a hair and beauty salon, a hammam steam room and a Finnish sauna.

Accommodations are for 18 guests in nine staterooms, or as many as 22 guests with the use of two convertible cabins. Two of the VIP staterooms are on the main deck with private balconies.

What’s the lowest weekly base rate to charter Tranquility? The lowest weekly base rate to charter in winter 2023-24 is $1.2 million, and the flat rate to charter in Antarctica is $1.6 million.

How to book a week on board: contact a charter broker at camperandnicholsons.com

The post ‘Tranquility’ Is Heading to Antarctica appeared first on Yachting.

In recent years, there have been times when sales broker Alex G. Clarke has been fine with people thinking he’s a bit nuts. It started when Denison Yachting became one of the industry’s first companies to accept bitcoin as payment for boats. Clarke did the firm’s first $10 million-plus bitcoin deal.

“Everybody thought we were crazy,” he says. “Nobody really knew how mainstream it was going to be or the applications for it.”

If he had taken even part of his commission back then in bitcoin, he’d likely have the cryptocurrency equivalent of millions of dollars today. So, when his tech-savvy clients started talking more recently about an emerging technology called non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, he paid attention.

“I’ve been following this tech probably a little closer than most brokers,” he says. “We see this technology with the NFT as having so much potential to kind of merge the old-school guy who wants a really nice yacht with the next generation, the new money, the tech-savvy people who understand the NFT applications.”

More and more these days, people are starting to think like him. Some of the best-known names in yachting, including the builders Oceanco and Delta, and award-winning designers Greg Marshall and Dickie Bannenberg, are either dipping their toes in the NFT world or trying to build the future that the technology appears poised to make possible—both in the digital space and with yachts in real life.

“The reality is that we’re all feeling our way around this,” Marshall says. “We know we’re onto something powerful; we just don’t fully see the whole story yet.”

The Basics of NFTs

Think about the internet that existed 20 years ago. Anyone could build a website, develop an audience and generate advertising revenue. If the website’s owner wanted to move that audience to a different platform, he could do so easily.

That version of the online world is what tech gurus call Web 1.0. Today, we’re living in what they describe as Web 2.0, where huge companies such as Meta (formerly Facebook) and Google have positioned themselves between website developers and audiences. Anyone trying to promote a website today encounters things such as algorithm changes that can shrink an audience’s size overnight.

Rebalancing that equation is the thinking behind Web3, which the tech gurus are creating now. Its foundation is technology called the blockchain, which is decentralized. It’s not owned by any one company but is instead managed by a peer-to-peer network. Blockchain technology creates blocks of data that cannot be modified—which is another way of saying they’re non-fungible. Whereas anyone can swap a dollar bill for another dollar bill, each NFT that gets minted is a one-of-a-kind item.

“It cannot be duplicated or replicated,” says Zach Mandelstein, founder of the digital yacht dealer Cloud Yachts. “It’s one-of-one because it’s built on the blockchain, which verifies that it is a unique item. It’s like a Gucci-purse authenticator.”

And an NFT can hold a heck of a lot more stuff than a purse. It can digitally store, say, not only the design plans for a superyacht, but also all the emails and contractual records that went into building that yacht, in a way that can be offered to the yacht’s next owner as part of a sales package.

“You used to be able to buy a used car, and the story behind it was whatever you were told,” Mandelstein says. “When Carfax came along, you got to see everything—the mileage, everything. This is a similar paradigm shift. With these NFTs, we can upload thousands of data points into this new-build process, right down to billable hours with the technicians.”

What should be inside those thousands of data points? That’s what early adopters of NFT technology are trying to figure out. Some are building things such as the digital playground known as the metaverse, where people will live whole other lives that they experience through digital goggles. Others are thinking about the technology as a next-step progression from existing tools such as digital yacht modeling, with real-world applications.

“This extension into the NFT world—it feels like a logical one,” Bannenberg says. “On the technical side, it doesn’t feel like a particularly big step, but it does require getting your head around the concept of what somebody is able to acquire, what they get from it, over and on top of a 3D image. What other underlying value can we give? What does it offer the buyer that is interesting?”

Piecing It Together

Marshall and his team started thinking about NFTs because, for the past four years, they’ve been doing a deep dive into holographic design. They’re working toward a future where people can put on a pair of goggles and experience an augmented-reality version of yacht construction and maintenance.

“Everybody working on an engine, for example, can be on a different continent,” Marshall says. “We’re probably a year or year and a half away from fully commercializing it. It’s pretty wild, what it’s going to do to our industry.”

Making that kind of technology work involves building a massive library of 3D components. Consider every hose, seacock and other component aboard a yacht. Each one needs a digital equivalent that the technology can recognize. “We’re coming up on a million of these pieces, every component we use, from filters to engines to galley sinks,” Marshall says.

So, he started looking for ways to back up all that data. The search led him to NFTs, which could handle the data volume in a way that he sees as being “a safety-deposit box” because the blockchain creates the one-of-one, non-fungible record.

At the same time that Marshall was trying to solve that problem, he also was talking with Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut about donating his library of plans in the future. Again, the potential of NFT technology came to mind.

“The amount of data that we have produced is just insane,” he says. “Going back and being able to catalog it all and archive it is a massive job. So, we wondered: Could we NFT each project? That would capture all the digital data.”

Marshall started researching NFTs in more detail, and he found Mandelstein at Cloud Yachts. Mandelstein’s background is in intellectual-property management, including protecting things such as trademarks, and he got a yacht-broker license almost a decade ago as a side hustle. His combination of skills helped him see the potential value of all the data Marshall was trying to store and transfer—and that other designers would likely want to store and transfer too.

“I knew there were a bunch of designs from guys like Greg Marshall and Dickie Bannenberg that [were] just burning a hole in their computers,” Mandelstein says. “It was like cash burning a hole in a pocket. It is valuable intellectual property that could be monetized.”

For Marshall, even thinking about his yacht designs that way was new.

“I could see instantly that Zach’s perspective about the value of an NFT was totally different from mine,” Marshall says. “We pieced together each other’s versions as we were talking.”

Yet More Pieces

Clarke, meanwhile, was thinking about NFT technology from the perspective of a sales broker. He had heard about real estate deals that incorporated NFTs into the sale price, and he started to think about how something similar might work for yachts. He landed on an idea that he thinks of as “smart contracts.”

“If you build a yacht today, you’re going to have your manuals, your software, everything about the build, your blueprints, your build specs—you can take all that and organize it on an NFT and put all that metadata together,” Clarke says. “Inside your NFT is a very well-organized thing that’s only accessible by you or by a select few people. If you want to sell the boat, you can hand over this NFT collection along with the yacht. My vision is that the NFT will stay with the boat. The appealing part on the brokerage market is that all the data is nicely organized and easy to transfer.”

To his thinking, as any yacht progresses from owner to owner, new NFTs could be minted to add even more value.

“Owning an NFT is like owning a little vault,” he says. “It’s [an] all-in-one clean package. Instead of going back and forth between attorneys with a bunch of binders, even if you’re going through class or flag regulations in the future, you could keep that whole history organized in there. Things like that, it could be very useful for the owner, the second owner and the third owner. Nothing will get lost in translation over the life of the yacht.”

As the metaverse continues to be built, at some point, all of that data could be used to create digital versions of real-life yachts. Owners buying an NFT today could be investing not only in plans to build a vessel that they can take to the Bahamas right now, but also in a digital version of that same vessel that could have additional value once everyone is strapping on goggles and looking for virtual hotspots and marinas.

For instance, Clarke says, maybe “we’re going to give you a slip in the metaverse as part of the transaction. Who’s to say that it doesn’t become like buying a slip in Monaco, and it’s worth $200,000 or $400,000 or $1 million in the metaverse in the future?”

As Marshall sees it, there’s also potential value in today’s NFTs being used as the foundation to build tomorrow’s real-life yachts. A lot of the same data that can be used in the metaverse can also be used at brick-and-mortar shipyards.

“There’s also a lot of things like little sketches that, say, a craftsman will make on the floor and sends in an email to an office. Right now, all those little sketches are languishing. Nobody is collecting them,” Marshall says. “The ability to collect all those kinds of things with an NFT is extraordinary. Now you’ve created a digital asset. That asset can then be licensed out to build a second one, a third one or a fourth one.”

Creating those kinds of initial assets is happening already. In March, a businessman from Texas bought an NFT of a 110-foot Marshall design. It will be used to build a real yacht, at a cost of about $12 million. Then NFT No. 2 will become available.

“We will use the NFT from No. 1 to develop No. 2,” Marshall says. “Now, again, we are feeling our way around this. As I said to the owner of the project, I can guarantee we’re going to make mistakes. We made one step, our very first step, we screwed up, and I said, ‘OK, good. We’re one for one.’ We don’t know where or how it’s going to go, and we are trusting that, as gentlemen, we’ll figure it out as we get there.”

Real-Life Access

Bannenberg, meanwhile, worked with Cloud Yachts to offer one of Bannenberg & Rowell’s 131-foot designs as an NFT earlier this year at the Palm Beach International Boat Show in Florida. There were five versions—each a unique piece of digital art with backgrounds of different colors—and whoever bought them also got access to the design team in real life.

“It’s a standing invitation to come and spend a few hours in the studio and have an exploratory design meeting,” Bannenberg says. “They can come to London, or we can do Microsoft Teams or Zoom. And then we’ll take it from there.”

He’s also thinking about some of the possibilities that Marshall is considering. Bannenberg’s father is Jon Bannenberg—often called the “father of modern yacht design”—and the Bannenberg & Rowell firm owns all of the elder’s drawings. A couple hundred of those designs could be converted from 2D ink on film into NFTs, and then used to create some of the metaverse’s first, well, classic digital designs.

“Everyone says there’s an element of the Wild West to this exploratory stuff, but this is how other things started too,” he says. “Right now, it seems to be at a very simple level. Things that are only 18 months old suddenly feel ancient compared to the possibilities.”

Nobody is quite sure what consumers will find valuable. When Marshall’s NFTs became available, he was driving along the California coast. “Every once in a while, my phone would ping, and another one had been sold,” he says, adding that he was as surprised as anyone. “Another $300 or so would show up in my account. A couple of them resold.”

From a designer standpoint, that kind of automatic payment is appealing—because the same kind of payment happens with a full-on yacht design.

“Before, I would have had to send an invoice and hoped that the guy would pay it, and he might not pay it for 30 days,” Marshall says. “Moving forward, if you build No. 20 of this boat, I don’t have to think about it. I don’t have to get hold of a shipyard and see if they sold another boat, and you have this awkward conversation about how they owe you money. It’s a tough thing collecting on the royalty sometimes. In this case, it happens automatically.”

Who’s buying these first NFT offerings? Clarke, for one. He’s trying to collect all the No. 1 NFTs that major yacht designers offer—just in case being first ends up being significant.

“I was told it doesn’t matter if you have No. 1 or No. 5, but I’m thinking there is a difference,” he says, adding that it all helps him understand the ways future clients may want to do business. “At Denison, our escrow account is at JPMorgan. They just opened their first office in the metaverse to service clients there. So, if you want to go into the metaverse, we are working with them. We could go and say: ‘Mr. Buyer, when you’re doing your payments, we work with JPMorgan. We can buy your slip for your yacht in the metaverse. Our banker is already there.’”

Where Is the Value?

That’s the real nut of the question. For younger buyers, the technology sells itself, Mandelstein says.

“I’m meeting the owners of shipyards now, and the dads get it, but their sons are tripping out about how cool this is,” he says. “The sons are all over it. They think it’s the most exciting thing they’ve seen. We don’t know what’s going to come out of this, but it’s something really special that wasn’t there before.”

Clarke sees those sons as the yacht buyers of the future—who will expect NFT-based technology to be part of the experience.

“My thought was taking part of an interior on a 63-meter and putting in a media room with two zero-gravity chairs,” Clarke says. “You get one of your buddies on board, you put on your goggles and sit on those chairs, and you go in the metaverse and say, ‘Here’s the boat.’ You get on the boat in the virtual world as you’re actually doing it on a yacht in the real world. For me, that’s the cool stuff you can do to make it a lot of fun.”

Marshall, meanwhile, is using his mother-in-law, Rose, as a guinea pig to figure out how to get traditional yacht buyers interested; many of them have no desire to strap on goggles and enter a digital playground.

“She’s in her 80s,” Marshall says. “We put HoloLenses on her head and walk her through the process. When she puts the headset on, our person, Sara, pops up digitally from a different location and walks Rose through how to use this. Digital Sara will touch Digital Rose’s wrist and say: ‘See this button right here? Push this button.’ We intentionally hired people who know their way around engine rooms and things, but who don’t know the tech. If it didn’t work easily, we wanted to build the tech and start over. We’re doing that today. That part of it is incredible. It’s crazy how powerful that is.”

Mandelstein is betting that harnessing even a small piece of that power is something yacht owners will want to do.

“You can’t stand in the way of progress,” he says. “Most big corporations have figured out that this thing is coming. Mark my words: In a few years, there will be NFT managers like there are social media managers in every corporation. We’re still figuring out the best use for this technology, but the revolution has already begun.”

On Capitol Hill

Congress hasn’t yet moved to regulate NFTs, but in January, Dapper Labs became the first firm to register to federally lobby on issues related to NFTs. The company’s head of government affairs is a former member of the Federal Communications Commission.

In the EU

The European Union was considering rules this past spring that would require issuers of NFTs to centralize and register. The rules would be part of what’s known as Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation if passed into law. The European Parliament says it is worried about the use of NFTs in money laundering and other scams, so it’s talking about requiring that issuers be “a legal person” rather than a decentralized entity.

Luxury Autos

McLaren, maker of luxury supercars in Britain, dropped NFTs called the Genesis Collection. The collection has five tiers, with a limited number of each (as few as 100 or 1,000) available for purchase. Some tiers aren’t open to buyers at all, and instead will be gifted to select members of the McLaren community.

The Silver Screen

If lawsuits are an indication of value, then Hollywood sees NFTs as having plenty. Miramax Studios is suing Quentin Tarantino over the director’s attempts to sell NFTs of his screenplay for Pulp Fiction. Tarantino’s contract gives him the rights to sell copies of the screenplay, but Miramax is arguing that the 1993 deal could not have reserved rights to sell NFTs because the technology didn’t even exist back then.  How much money is at stake? The first Tarantino NFT sold for $1.1 million in January.

Louis: The Game

Players working their way through Louis Vuitton’s smartphone app called Louis: The Game can find 30 embedded NFTs along the way. Each one is considered a collectible that can only be found within the game. This spring, the company announced that players who reach the end can expand their experience into additional levels, with new NFTs to win.

The Foodverse

Celebrity chefs Spike Mendelsohn and Tom Colicchio launched an NFT project called CHFTY Pizzas in March. They plan to sell 2,777 of the NFTs, which will give buyers access to exclusive channels where they can access experiences such as master classes and pizza parties with various celebrity chefs nationwide. Each CHFTY NFT avatar is one of a kind and intended to appeal to collectors. The team also plans to help other chefs launch into the world of NFTs in the future.

The post Setting Course for NFT Deals appeared first on Yachting.

Mega-yacht design has always been a playground for some of the most fertile minds on the planet. Construction, in turn, routinely represents an evolution in engineering. All of that and more is on display right now around the world, with numerous projects that are nothing short of mind-bending.

In March, Royal Huisman in the Netherlands turned the Alustar aluminum hull on Project 406, which is on its way to becoming the largest sport-fisher yacht ever to ply the world’s waters. Building this 170-foot-long, six-deck machine would be enough for any shipyard to create headlines, but the Dutch builder—the same month it turned that hull—announced that it also had inked a deal to build the world’s largest sloop, the 280-foot Project 410.

“It is an extraordinary honor to be entrusted with a project of such scale, ambition and technical sophistication,” Peter Naeyé, the yard’s chief commercial officer, said of the sloop. “A true performance superyacht with supersized dimensions and full of technical innovations.”

What all of that might mean is anyone’s guess, as are the teaser details coming out of Italy about Amarcord. It’s a new project of the Palumbo Superyachts brand ISA Yachts in collaboration with design firm Nuvolari Lenard. Amarcord is a 262-foot yacht being started on spec for delivery as soon as 2025. Giuseppe Palumbo, director of Palumbo Superyachts, calls the project an opportunity for the yard and design team to work together on “interesting innovations in the stylistic field.”

Given that Nuvolari Lenard’s history includes designing the first superyacht infinity pool, aboard the Oceanco Alfa Nero in 2007, as well as the military-style exteriors on 2015’s CRN Atalante, it’s again anyone’s guess what we are all about to see next.

Quite a lot of innovation is also on display these days at shipyards that build smaller motoryachts. Outer Reef Yachts, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, just announced plans for its 650 Evo Motoryacht, which replaces the Cummins Zeus pod-drive system from previous models with Volvo Penta’s latest Electronic Vessel Control offering. This EVC system adds faster software downloads, improved diagnostics and features such as joystick docking, dynamic positioning and a glass cockpit.

“We look forward to what the future holds for our Trident series, and will steadily work toward enhancing the owner experience through partnerships like the one we have forged with Volvo Penta and Garmin,” said Outer Reef president Jeff Druek. “At the end of the day, due to our incorporation of these game-changing technological advancements, our owners have come to expect and enjoy high-performance cruising aboard their Outer Reef Yachts.”

High performance is also a keyword at Van der Valk in the Netherlands, which just dropped a concept design called Meteor. At 82 feet length overall, Meteor all but eliminates the traditional aft-deck design seen aboard most yachts and, instead, takes a sports-car approach to styling. When the transom drops down at anchor, the whole main-deck interior becomes part of the indoor-outdoor guest space.

Fellow Dutch firm Vripack is involved in the design of Van der Valk’s Meteor, which has a projected top speed above 40 knots, powered by triple Rolls-Royce MTUs with water jets. The majority of the superstructure is glass, including two slide-open sections of nearly 10 feet apiece.

Would-be owners aren’t the only ones who think a concept like Meteor is cool. “Our skilled craftsmen are going to have a field day bringing this all to life for the first new Meteor owner,” the yard said in announcing the project.

Still want more? We’re salivating to see what’s about to come out of Tankoa Yachts, where the Italian builder has teamed with designer Philippe Briand on a 170-foot custom motoryacht for delivery in 2025. That project, according to Tankoa, includes “remarkable development of the interiors, designed and finely decorated down to the smallest detail.” What that might mean, in the hands of one of the world’s most award-winning designers, has the potential to be astounding.

In the powercat market, Denison Yachts just became the Americas dealer for the SilverCat line by Australia-based Silver Yachts. Hull No. 1 is already sold, with additional hulls available in lengths overall up to 118 feet. “We’re thrilled to bring the SilverCat to market as the new mega-cat with design innovations by world-renowned designer Espen Øino,” said Tony Smith, Denison brand manager for Silver Yachts.

We’re beyond thrilled too. A bounty of features, technology and amenities that have never existed are about to become reality. What a time to be able to play.

The post Mega-yacht Designers Bringing New Innovations appeared first on Yachting.

Oceanco in the Netherlands has delivered the 384-foot Infinity, the yard’s largest motoryacht to date and the largest yacht ever built in the Netherlands.

The seven-deck yacht has accommodations for 16 guests. Features include what Oceanco calls “an extensive wellness area” with a spa, sauna, gym and yoga studio.

A particular emphasis of the design was reducing noise and vibration. Oceanco is mum on the details of exactly what the yard did, but the hull and stabilization system are said to “deliver the next generation in both seakeeping and hydrodynamic efficiency.”

Exterior design is by Espen Øino International, with interior design by Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design and David Kleinberg Design Associates. Naval architecture is by Lateral Naval Architects.

What is the beam on a yacht this big? The beam on Infinity is 53 feet.

Take the next step: go to oceancoyacht.com

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